Updated AML Guidelines

Advances prompt release of new recommendations for diagnosis, management of adult AML

An international panel of experts has released updated evidence-based and expert-opinion-based recommendations for the diagnosis and treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in adults.

The recommendations were issued by the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) and published in the journal Blood. The paper’s senior author was Clara D. Bloomfield, MD, a Distinguished University Professor at Ohio State who also serves as cancer scholar and senior adviser for the OSUCCC – James.

“These guidelines are an important update of the current and widely used recommendations for managing AML, for constructing clinical trials and for predicting outcomes of AML patients,” says Bloomfield, who co-chaired the panel. “They will be the new standard of care and will replace the 2010 ELN recommendations for managing AML patients and designing clinical trials.”

Adult AML affects an estimated 21,400 Americans per year and kills 10,600 of them, according to the American Cancer Society.

The updated recommendations include revised ELN genetic categories, a proposed response category based on minimal residual disease status, and a proposed category for progressive disease for clinical trials.

The recommendations also include the newly updated World Health Organization classification of myeloid neoplasms and acute leukemia.

Bloomfield says updating the ELN recommendations was prompted by new insights into the molecular and genomic causes of the disease, by the development of new genetic tests and tests for detecting minimal residual disease, and by the development of novel antileukemic agents.